Russia Considers Tougher Restrictions on Mobile SIM-Card Sales

Buying a mobile SIM-card in Russia might soon become even more difficult, even though doing it anonymously is already illegal and subject to a fine. Russian authorities are considering additional restrictions on sales of mobile packages citing “a growing terrorist threat” as their main reason. The initiative comes from the Interdepartmental Committee on combatting extremism and seems to be aimed mostly at foreigners who want to purchase mobile SIM-cards on…

On November 27, the Russian television station Russia 24 broadcast a news item stating that members of the terrorist organization “Islamic State” were fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the war in the Donbas region. Russia 24 journalists claim that, according to the UN, “hundreds of Islamists” are fighting for the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer battalion. Furthermore, a new law guarantees Ukrainian citizenship for foreigners after…

This week, Christina Jarymowycz, a Fulbright student and PhD. candidate at Boston University, guest hosts StopFake News. Among this week’s fakes, Russian and Ukrainian media falsely report that the graves of Ukrainian soldiers have been bulldozed in the town of Sumy. Russian media and the former Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister resurrected a debunked story about Ukrainian soldiers being sent to Syria. Ukraina.ru reported that the Ukrainian President had decided to…

Did you know the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, John Tefft, once gave a press conference on the moon? – Molly McKitterick asks for Voice of America. And at center-ice of a hockey game? ​And with General Douglas MacArthur when the general landed in the Philippines during World War II? Well, of course, he was not in any of those places. Tefft was born in 1949, well after World War II…

The Russian news agency Sputnik falsely reported on November 27 that a French representative in NATO, Jean-Baptiste Mattei, had “harshly” spoken about the downing of a Russian Su-24 warplane by the Turkish military. He was quoted as saying: “The Turkish activities were undermining the operation against the Islamic State militant group.” An extraordinary meeting of the Council of NATO was held on November 24 after the shooting down of the…

Some Russian mass media are informing that Turkey will allegedly be thrown out of NATO. The Ukraina.ru website reports: “Turkey should not be a member of NATO, it should be thrown out of the Alliance. This was announced by retired US Army Major General and senior military analyst for Fox News Paul Vallely.” This “news” was also reported by the Russian News Agency website. In fact, a retired military officer cannot speak…

Various websites and social networks have falsely reported that former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul Henry O’Neill had recently spoken out against the “coup d’etat” in Ukraine. They reported that he: “addressed Ukrainians and provided an exhaustive analysis of all the reasons and purposes of the coup d’etat in Ukraine and dispelled the myth about ‘democratization’ and ‘the revolution of dignity.’” In the article, Ukraine is referred to as the “outskirts…

Russian media is claiming that Germany will be sending its bombers to Syria to support France. Gazeta.ru reports: “Germany will send Tornado bombers to Syria to support France’s battle against Isis. The announcement was allegedly made by Henning Otte, press-secretary for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) parliamentary party.” The German website Local.de is cited as the source of this information. In fact, the original story published on The Local, a…

This week, Christi Anne Hofland, the director of America House in Kyiv, guest hosts StopFake news. Among this week’s fakes, Russia’s Channel One aired a report that warned that Ukraine would soon fall into anarchy. Vesti.ru reported that the Ukrainian armed forces had moved the line demarcating their anti-terrorist operations closer to the town of Horlivka in Donetsk Oblast. Sputnik incorrectly reported that a committee of the U.S. Senate had…

On November 18, the English-language edition of Sputnik incorrectly reported that a committee of the U.S. Senate had been informed that the U.S. was losing the “media war” to Russia and was incapable of responding to the challenge. Kenneth R. Weinstein, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, was alleged to have said this in remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the previous day. The Broadcasting Board of…